Masters meet

The close proximity of the Chinese New Year to the dates of this year’s Tata Steel chess tournament has meant that I haven’t been able to give this annual international chess event in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, much attention. 

This Wijk aan Zee tournament has a very long history that goes back to 1938. Before Tata Steel came into the picture, it used to be called the Corus tournament and before that, the Hoogovens event. Wijk aan Zee itself is the Dutch seaside town from where the tournament takes its name.

Anyway, the Tata Steel chess tournament is traditionally a very strong event and only the world’s best players will ever get a chance to be invited. There are three Grandmaster groups with 14 players each.

Since Jan 13, the eyes of the chess world have been focused mainly on the Grandmaster Group A tournament. And why not when this year’s participants include six of the world’s eight highest-ranked players in Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Veselin Topalov, Sergey Karjakin and Vassily Ivanchuk? Only the names of Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand are missing from this list. 

To round up the player’s list, there are also Vugar Gashimov, Hikaru Nakamura, Boris Gelfand, Fabiano Caruana, Gata Kamsky, Anish Giri, David Navara and local Dutch grandmaster Loek van Wely in the starting line-ups.

Until the eighth round, Carlsen and Aronian were leading the tournament but so far, it did not look like a complete domination to me. They were just a half point ahead of Radjabov who in turn was half a point ahead of Ivanchuk, Caruana and Nakamura.

Gelfand’s inclusion in this premier event was a surprise. He is due to play Anand for the world chess championship title in May and I thought he would have withdrawn himself from active play in order to prepare for the match of his life. However, he must be believing that the best preparation is to keep on playing actively, at least for this one or two months.

The Grandmaster Group B included players like Lazaro Bruzon, Vladimir Potkin, Alexander Motylev and Sergey Tiviakov. It was rather disappointing to see only Pentala Harikrishna and Harika Dronavalli as the only Asian players in this group because last year there were three Asian players in Wesley So, Li Chao and Le Quang Liem.

Nevertheless, it was interesting to notice the inclusion of four women chess players – all grandmasters – in this Group B tournament, namely, Harika, Kateryna Lahno, Daniele Vocaturo and Viktorija Cmilyte. 

This week, I’d like to feature an interesting game from the third round of this tournament. 

White: Magnus Carlsen

Black: Levon Aronian

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.Qc2 Nf6 7.h3 g6 8.e3 Bf5 9.Qd2 h5 10.Bd3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Nbd7 12.Nge2 a5 13.0-0 0-0 14.f3 b5 15.e4 dxe4 16.fxe4 Nc5 17.Qf3 Ne6 18.Be3 (I should think that White has a firm grip on this game. His centre is strong while his opponent has several weaknesses all over the board, in particular the pawn on c6 and a very loose kingside due to his pawn on h5. It’s not so clear yet, as it’s hidden by the knight, but the pawn on f7 is also weak.) 18….b4 19.Nb1 Nh7 (Now we see Black’s other weakness exposed: the pawn on f7.) 20.Nd2 Rc8 21.Rad1 Bh4 22.g3 Bf6 23.Nc4 Bg7 (Black’s position is all passive. He has no counter-play and can only react to White’s play.) 24.b3 Qe7 (Black realises that the pawn on a5 cannot be defended for long and so, prepares to give it up.) 25.Qg2 Nc7 26.Nxa5 Rfe8 27.e5 Nd5 28.Bd2 Red8 29.Nf4 Qa7 30.Nxc6 (The start of a little combination) 30….Rxc6 31.Nxd5 Rc2 (Not 31….Qxd4+ 32. Kh1 Qxe5 when 33.Ne7+ wins material.) 32.Kh1 Bf8 33.e6 (Superb play by White. Black’s kingside becomes totally exposed. The next few moves are just about forced for both sides.) 33….Qa8 34.exf7+ Kh8 35.Nf4 Qxg2+ 36.Kxg2 Rxd4 37.Rf2 Rd6 38.Bc1 Rxf2+ 39.Kxf2 Rxd1 40.Bb2+ Nf6 41.Bxf6+ Kh7 42.Ne6 Bd6 43.Be5 Be7 (43….Bxe5 44.f8=Q, naturally. Anyway, there is no doubt that White is already winning in the endgame.) 44.f8=Q Bxf8 45.Nxf8+ Kh6 46.Ne6 g5 47.h4 gxh4 48.gxh4 Kg6 49.Nd4 Rd3 50.Nc6 Rd2+ 51.Ke3 Rxa2 52.Bd6 Ra1 53.Kd4 Rg1 54.Kc5 Kf5 55.Nxb4 Rc1+ 56.Kd4 Re1 57.Nc6 Re4+ 58.Kd5 Rxh4 59.b4 Rh1 60.b5 Rb1 61.Nd4+ Kg4 62.Kc6 Rc1+ 63.Kd7 Rb1 64.Kc7 h4 65.b6 Kh3 66.b7 Kg2 67.Nf5 h3 68.Nh4+1–0 (See diagram. White will promote his pawn next and after which, the knight will manoeuvre to f3 where it combines with the bishop to stop Black’s pawn from any further advance.)

The event only ends on Sunday, so you can still follow the last three rounds of the Tata Steel tournament from their website, http://www.tatasteelchess.com/, from 8.30pm nightly. Do enjoy the games!

Up Next

InSoFar chess

The InSoFar Chess Academy will hold its first event of the year at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre, Wilayah Complex, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. Players can choose to play in any one of three sections – the rapid open, the junior scholarship open and the adult scholarship open – which will all be run off together.

Seven Swiss rounds with a 25-minute time control. Entry fees: RM20 (rapid open), RM50 ( junior scholarship open and adult scholarship open). To register, please send your full name and age by text message to Mat Zaki Yeop (017.2032051). Entries are limited to the first 64 players only.

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will kick off this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng grand prix chess circuit with the first leg at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Clifford in Kuala Kangsar on Feb 12. 

This is the third series of the local grand prix which will see six legs held in Kuala Kangsar, Taiping, Slim River, Bagan Serai, Kampar and Ipoh until July. Last year’s second series attracted widespread interest from players around the country and were held at five different districts in the state. PICA is confident that this year’s series would attract even greater response. 

Each leg of the grand prix will be played over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. Players can register for the open, the under-16 or the under-12 sections. Grand prix points shall be awarded to the top 10 winners of the open section of each leg and these would accumulate till the final leg in Ipoh. Those that register under the two junior categories will not be eligible for the open prizes or grand prix points. 

Entry fees for the first leg in Kuala Kangsar: RM25 (open section), RM15 (under 16 years old), RM10 (under 12 years old). For PICA members and Perak residents: RM20 (open section), RM10 (players under 16 years old). Closing date: Feb 9. For more information, call Yunus (013.3908129), Abu Bakar Martin (019.4007663), Azhar (013.4570443) or check the PICA blog at http://perakchess.blogspot.com for updates. 

Rakan Muda JB

The Rakan Muda Johor Bahru, Johor Chess Academy, Johor Bahru Chess Association and the Southerncity Giant hypermarket  are the joint organisers of this year’s seventh Johor Bahru junior tournament on Feb 19. Venue will be the concourse area of the hypermarket in Johor Bahru. Seven-round Swiss event with 25 minutes time control.

Entry fees: RM15 (players under 17 years old) and RM13 (players under 12 years old). Closing date is Feb 17. Details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com).

 

The big four

As had been expected last week, the Indian grandmaster and current world chess champion, Viswananthan Anand, has been knocked off the second spot on the latest international rating list which was released by the World Chess Federation earlier this week. 

His rating took a tumble from the 2810 rating points a year ago (the January 2011 rating list) to 2799 this January. Without a doubt, his last three performances in Bilbao, Moscow and London had greatly affected his ratings and he is now placed fourth in the world rankings.

The Norwegian grandmaster, Magnus Carlsen, now 21 years old, has retained his number one standing in the world. But more than that, over the past year, his rating has increased from 2814 points in January 2011 to 2835 points in the January 2012 list. 

Considering that the top players in the world are playing with one another exclusively, this is actually a gain of 21 points against top chess opposition.

More tellingly, Carlsen’s present rating of 2835 points is a good 30 points more than his nearest chess rival, Levon Aronian from Armenia. Over the past year, Aronian’s rating has not changed and remains at 2805 points. But because of Anand’s drop down the list, Aronian has been propelled from third to second-placed. 

Similarly, Vladimir Kramnik has been pushed up from fourth to third in the world ranking. But at least for this Russian grandmaster, he has seen his rating increase by 17 points from a year ago to 2801 in January 2012. This has been helped by an impressive display of chess technique at the London Chess Classic last month which he won comfortably.

So there you have it, the top four players in the world today are Carlsen, Aronian, Kramnik and Anand. 

Fifth in the world rankings is Azerbaijan’s Teimour Radjabov whose rating is 2773. His rating had also risen by 29 points over the past year. At this time last year, he was placed in 12th position among his peers.

The Bulgarian grandmaster, Veselin Topalov, remains sixth in the world today, unchanged from a year ago. However, five points have been shed by him and he stands today with 2770 rating points.

Sergey Karyakin is in seventh position with 2769 points, Vassily Ivanchuk is eighth with 2766 points, Alexander Morozevich is ninth with 2763 points and Vugar Gashimov rounds up the top ten with 2761 points.

Outside of this top list includes Alexander Grischuk who is also with 2761 points, Hikaru Nakamura with 2759 points, Peter Svidler with 2749 points, Boris Gelfand with 2739 points (placed 16th in the world today), Fabiano Caruana with 2736 points, China’s Wang Hao with 2733 points and Gata Kamsky with 2732 points.

There are 44 players whose ratings are at least 2700 points. Apart from Anand and Wang, the only two other Asian players in this exclusive 2700-plus club are Le Quang Liem from Vietnam with 2714 points and Krishnan Sasikiran from India with 2700 points. 

Sasikiran’s position in the world rankings has remained relatively unchanged: an increase of 10 rating points has seen his ranking rise from 45th a year ago to 44th position this January.

Le’s climb has been more phenomenal: a 50-point increase. Accordingly, his ranking has gone up from 79th in the world to 29th today.

Turning my sights to the top women players in the international rating list, I see that Judit Polgar is still the number one woman chess player in the world with 2710 rating points. Her grip on the women’s world ranking has been total. Nobody has been able to touch her for years. 

But in the next few years, we may be able to see someone else come closer to challenging Polgar’s status. If there is any woman chess player who can do it, it is likely to be that lass from China, Hou Yifan, who is the current women’s world champion.

In the January 2012 rating list, Hou is finally the number two in the world, having displaced the former number two, Humpy Koneru, who is now the world’s number three woman player.

But interestingly enough, Hou’s present rating is very little changed from a year ago. Then, she was at 2602 points while now, her gain is only three rating points to 2605. It is just that Humpy’s poor performances lately have lost the Indian player some 18 points. She had been most affected by her terrible display at the women’s world championship match in November. 

Finally, I should also mention that China’s Ju Wenjun who was here in Kuala Lumpur playing in last year’s Malaysia open championship is now ranked as the sixth best woman chess player in the world. Over the past year, she had risen from 13th position. 

 

No surprises

To round up on the other two major chess events that had concluded last week in Dortmund and Biel, it didn’t come as a surprise to many that both Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik and Norway’s Magnus Carlsen were convincing winners in their respective tournaments.

In Dortmund, Germany, Kramnik had been dominant in the first half of the double round-robin tournament and though he could not repeat his feat in the second half, the advantage that he brought forward was enough to see him through.

In the final round, he was even tempted to try his luck against the American grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura. Somewhere in the middlegame, he uncorked a brave sacrifice to open up his opponent’s defences around the king. 

A win would almost certainly have propelled Kramnik into the elite 2800 club of the live ratings list of which there are currently only three players: Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand and Levon Aronian.

But in this case, fortune did not favour the brave. There was always something in the position that enabled Nakamura’s defence to hold. Possibly, the draw could still be salvaged but at this late stage in the game, Kramnik was probably no longer interested to split the point.

Despite the loss in the final round, the Russian grandmaster still won the tournament with a big two-point margin over his rivals, the nearest of whom was the Vietnamese grandmaster, Le Quang Liem. Ruslan Ponomariov, a former Fide world champion, was third.

Meanwhile in Switzerland, the Biel tournament was won by Carlsen. This was also a double round-robin event which saw the players playing one another twice. However, the organizers had adopted a different scoring system that awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero point for a loss; something that we would probably be more familiar with in football competitions.

There are, of course, merits in trying something different for a change and in this case, the organizers were hoping to impress on the players – and the spectators – that drawing two games have less value than a win and a loss. It would call for fighting chess all the way, which was what the organizers achieved at the end.

Carlsen continued to put in an exemplary display in this event, despite showing a vulnerability in the first half when he lost to the French grandmaster, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. However, this only setback did not cause Carlsen any real damage because his closest rival, Alexander Morozevich, was unlucky enough to lose to Fabiano Caruana. The final standings could have been different had Morozevich won that game. 

Here is Nakamura’s win against Kramnik from the final round of the Dortmund tournament.

Vladimir Kramnik – Hikaru Nakamura, Dortmund 2011

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 Nh5 10. c5 Nf4 11. a4 f5 12. Bc4 fxe4 13. Nxe4 h6 14. Re1 Bg4 15. Ra3 g5 16. h3 Bh5 17. Bxf4 Rxf4 18. g3 Rf8 19. a5 Kh8 20. Kg2 Rb8 21. Qd2 b6 22. axb6 axb6 23. Nfxg5 (see diagram) 

23…hxg5 24. Qxg5 Bg6 25. cxd6 cxd6 26. Ra7 Rc8 27. Rxe7 Rxc4 28. f3 Rc2+ 29. Kg1 Rc8 30. Ra1 Rf7 31. Qxg6 Qxe7 32. Ng5 Kg8 33. Qh7+ Kf8 34. Ne6+ Ke8 35. Qh5 Bf6 36. g4 Qb7 37. Rd1 Qa6 38. Qg6 Ke7 39. g5 Bh8 40. Re1 Qa3 41. Nd4 Qxb4 42. Nf5+ Kf8 43. Rd1 Rc2 44. Nd4 exd4 45. Qxc2 Qc3 46. Qe4 Qe3+ 47. Qxe3 dxe3 48. Kg2 Bc3 49. Kf1 Rxf3+ 50. Ke2 Rxh3 0-1

Up next

Malaysia Chess Festival

According to the organizers of the Malaysian Chess Festival, 95 entries had been received for their showcase event, the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship when entries officially closed on Monday.

We should see at least 15 grandmasters (including the defending champion, Vietnamese grandmaster Cao Sang), two woman grandmasters and nine international masters in the field. The most prominent names among the Malaysians taking part will be Mas Hafizulhelmi and Lim Zhuo Ren.

For the AmBank chess challenge tournament, there are 34 entries presently while 24 players have been registered for the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open championship. Uzbek grandmaster Dmitri Kayumov is back to defend his title but an interesting development is that the names of Filipino international master Luis Chiong, Malaysia’s Jimmy Liew and Ukranian international master Mikhail Vasilyev are included in the players’ list.

The organizers say that entries are still being accepted despite the official closing date but a 25 percent surcharge is imposed. And anyone submitting their entries within 24 hours of the start of these events will be subjected to a 50 percent surcharge. 

The three events will be held at the Cititel MidValley Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 18-25. Nine round Swiss, 90 minutes plus 30-second increment time control. 

As for the complimentary chess events, the closing date remains at Aug 15. The events here are the Swensen’s open rapid age group chess tournament on Aug 21 (six rounds, 25 minutes per game), the Merdeka individual rapid open chess tournament on Aug 26 (seven rounds, 25 minutes per game) and the ASTRO Merdeka rapid open team chess tournament on Aug 28-29 (nine rounds, 25 minutes per game).  

For more information, visit http://datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html 

Raja Nazrin Shah open

Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur on Sep 4-10. Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from the first move. For details, contact Peter Long (peterlong@aol.asia).

 

Junior rule

India, together with China, the Philippines and Vietnam, are considered among the great chess-playing countries in Asia, if not the world. I say this because these countries continue to produce some of the most exciting names in world chess. 

For example, isn’t India’s Viswanathan Anand today the world chess champion? Wasn’t China’s Xie Jun the first Asian to become the women’s world champion? And isn’t Le Quang Liem the first Vietnamese player to break into that elite group of players with a rarified 2700+ chess rating? 

I need to mention only these three names but in fact, there are so many other talents that have emerged from these four countries. 

Wesley So from the Philippines is currently that country’s top ranked player and he is only 17 years old; Hou Yifan from China is currently the women’s world chess champion and she is also only 17 years old; Parimarjan Negi is considered to be a chess prodigy from India and he is 18 years old. I should also add that Le Quang Liem is 20 years old.

All very talented junior players. And when we also consider the likes of Norway’s Magnus Carlsen who is approaching his 21st birthday, the Italian-American Fabiano Cauana who is 19 years old and currently the top junior player in the world, and the 17-year-old Nepalese-Russian (but now Dutch) Anish Giri, we find that the world is practically littered with junior players that continue to shake up the older chess masters in today’s chess world.

Recently, the Delhi Chess Association and the Airport Authority of India joined hands to organize the AAI international grandmasters chess tournament in New Delhi, India and they invited four of these young chess talents to participate.

Joining Caruana, So, Negi and Hou in this double round-robin tournament were two other players. One was the Czech Republic’s Viktor Laznicka, who at 23 years old wasn’t that much older than the four, and India’s second-best player Krishnan Sasikiran who at 30 years old found himself the oldest player in the tourmanent.

The event was a romp for Caruana who justified his top seeding. He led after the third round and never allowed any of his rivals to get near enough to him. By the end of the eighth round, he was the only unbeaten player and he enjoyed a 1½-point advantage over his closest rival, Sasikiran.

But disaster struck for Caruana in the ninth round. According to him, he had blundered in a position which would have led to a draw. As a result, Sasikiran crept to narrow the gap on him to only a single point. However, Caruana’s first place in this tournament was never in any real danger as a draw in the 10th round was enough to seal his top prize. 

Sasikiran came second in the tournament and he was followed by Laznicka in third place. And what of the other three teenagers in this event? Well, by their own admission, they could have played better but actually, they finished according to expectation. So and Negi were expected to finish in fourth and fifth positions respectively, and so they did.

Hou was the weakest player in the field and she did finish last. In fact, if not for a much steadier performance in the second half of the tournament, she would have ended up with even less points. The first half of the tournament was a disaster as she lost her first four games. 

On the basis of her play in this tournament, I think she is going to have her hands full later this year when she defends her women’s world championship title against her official challenger, Koneru Humpy. It will be back to the training board for her as her coaches try to build up her game before the big match.

This week, I’m featuring a critical game between the tournament winner and the current chess champion of India. I’m referring, of course, to Negi who had won the Indian national championship in December last year. In this marathon game which went to 98 moves, Caruana sacrificed his queen and in return, got back three pieces as compensation. At first, Caruana’s advantage was slight but his pieces coordinated better and he gradually built up to a winning position. However, he still had to tread carefully to prevent Negi’s queen from continually checking him as he pushed his pawn towards queening. Eventually though, both players managed to convert their pawns into new queens but where Caruana was concerned, his position was already winning.

Fabiano Caruana – Parimarjan Negi, Round 6

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 h6 10. O-O-O Ne5 11. Qf2 b4 12. Nce2 Nc4 13. Ng3 Qc7 14. Bxc4 Qxc4 15. Kb1 g6 16. h4 e5 17. Nb3 Be6 18. h5 g5 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. gxf5 Rc8 21. Rd3 Be7 22. a3 d5 23. exd5 Nxd5 24. Rhd1 Nf6 25. axb4 Qxb4 26. Bd2 Qb8 27. Bc3 O-O 28. Qe3 Rfe8 29. Bxe5 b5 30. f4 Qc4 31. Qd2 Ne4 32. Qg2 Qc6 33. Rd5 Nf6 34. fxg5 hxg5 35. Qxg5+ Kh7 36. Bxf6 Qxc2+ 37. Ka2 Rg8 38. Qxg8+ Rxg8 39. Bxe7 Rg3 40. Na5 Rg2 41. Ba3 Rf2 42. Nb3 Rf3 43. Nc5 Qc4+ 44. Kb1 Rf1 45. Rd4 Qe2 46. Rxf1 Qxf1+ 47. Ka2 Qxf5 48. Rd6 Qf1 49. Nxa6 f5 50. Nb4 Qc4+ 51. b3 Qe2+ 52. Bb2 Qxh5 53. Nd5 Qf3 54. Rd7+ Kg6 55. Ne7+ Kh6 56. Rd6+ Kh7 57. Rd8 Kh6 58. Rd6+ Kh7 59. Rd4 Kh6 60. Nd5 Qe2 61. b4 Kg5 62. Kb3 Qf1 63. Nf4 Qa6 64. Bc1 Kf6 65. Bd2 Qf1 66. Rd5 Qb1+ 67. Kc4 Qa2+ 68. Kb5 Qa8 69. Bc3+ Kg5 70. Be5 Qa7 71. Ne6+ Kg4 72. Rd4+ Kf3 73. Nc5 Ke3 74. Kc6 Qf7 75. Rd3+ Ke2 76. Rd5 Qe8+ 77. Kb6 Qf7 78. Rd6 Kf3 79. b5 Qe8 80. Re6 Qc8 81. Bc7 Qa8 82. Rd6 Ke2 83. Ne6 Qe4 84. Nd4+ Kf2 85. Nc6 Qc2 86. Kb7 Qb3 87. b6 f4 88. Kc8 Qh3+ 89. Rd7 f3 90. b7 Kg2 91. b8=Q f2 92. Qb2 Kh1 93. Ne5 f1=Q 94. Kb8 Qh8+ 95. Rd8 Qhf6 96. Qb7+ Kg1 97. Rg8+ Kh2 98. Ng4+ 1-0

Up next

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will organize the fifth leg of this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng chess grand prix tournament at the Syuen Hotel in Ipoh this Sunday. 

As this tournament is also the final leg of the chess grand prix, the organizers have doubled the value of all the cash prizes. The winner of the open section, for instance, will receive RM600 instead of RM300. In addition, there will be prizes for the top eight players who accumulate the most points in the grand prix standings, with the grand prix champion set to receive RM800. 

Like the four previous legs, this one in Ipoh will be contested over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. Entry fees: RM25 (open section), RM15 (players under 16 years old), RM10 (under 12 years old). For PICA members and Perak residents: RM20 (open section), RM10 (all players under 16 years old). For more information, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or visit http://perakchess.blogspot.com. 

Hillcrest open

The Sek Men Keb Hillcrest in Taman Seri Gombak, Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur will organize their first Hillcrest open tournament at the school premises on Sunday. Six rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees: RM25 (players below 18 years old), RM30 (others). For details, contact Wong Yen Lee (017.3577788, yenlee741011_u@hotmail.com), Farah Alwani (013.3336849) or Manivannan (018.3757339).

JB Rakan Muda open

The Johor Bahru Chess Association, Rukun Tetangga Taman Sri Tebrau and Rakan Muda Johor Bahru are jointly organizing the 22nd Rakan Muda Tebrau open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru on Sunday. Seven round Swiss with 25-minute time control. Entry fees: RM30 (open section), RM16 (under-16 section) and RM12 (under-12 section). Details available from Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717 525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com). 

MBSSKL open

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School (MBSSKL) in Kuala Lumpur will hold the sixth MBSSKL open tounament at their school on July 23. Six rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees: RM5 (MBSSKL students) and RM15 (others). Closing date for entries is July 9. For more details, visit http://mbsskl.edu.my or contact Sanusi or Madam Yong LY (03.20782293).

 

Carlsen heads live rating

I still stand by my opinion that the Medias King’s tournament that ended in Romania last week wasn’t by far the most exciting chess event that I had been following recently, despite the presence of some heavyweights in Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Ukraine’s Vasily Ivanchuk.

But for a different reason, this tournament has earned its special position in today’s busy chess world. 

Carlsen, by finishing this event tied for first place with Russia’s Sergey Karyakin, regained his position at the top of the unofficial chess live rating list, jumping over Viswanathan Anand. Anand, who is the world chess champion, had occupied the top live rating spot since October last year.

The Norwegian grandmaster’s live rating now stands at 2820.8 points, which is 3.8 points more than Anand’s current live rating of 2817. Before this Medias King’s event, Anand had held a two-point cushion ahead of Carlsen.

And of course, Karyakin’s fantastic performance in this tournament also ensured that he would improve his live rating position as well. 

In fact, Karyakin’s live rating increased by an impressive 12 points to 2788 points and this raised him from fifth to fourth position on the list, right behind Armenia’s Levon Aronian. This is an all-time high for the 21-year-old player who was once the youngest grandmaster in the world.

Last week, I offered you a game between Ivanchuk and Karyakin, a game where Karyakin’s irresistible attack tore through Ivanchuk’s defence. Today, there is another game from the Medias King’s tournament and this time, it is a game between Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura who is the top-ranked grandmaster in the United States. 

If you are wondering whether I am mixed up about Nakamura’s nationality, no, I’m not. Nakamura’s an American citizen: his mother is American but his father is Japanese. He was born in Japan but at the age of two, the whole family moved to the United States. And, by the way, Nakamura’s number six on the live rating list.

 

So here is game between 20-year-old Carlsen and 23-year-old Nakamura from the very first round of the Medias King’s tournament:

Magnus Carlsen – Hikaru Nakamura

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 Bg4 (At first, this move looked a little strange to me as the bishop lands on a square where it doesn’t even threaten a non-existent knight on f3. Then as the game continued, it struck me that all along Black wanted to move his piece to g6.) 7. e3 Bh5 8. Bd3 Bg6 9. Bxg6 hxg6 10. O-O-O (With this move, White gives up the idea of a minority pawn attack on the queenside. Instead, with the black kingside pawns a little awkwardly positioned, White looks to attacking in that direction should Black chooses to castle kingside.)

10... Nf6 11. f3 Nbd7 12. Nge2 b5 (White gets ready to push with h2-h4-h5 on the kingside, but Black starts the fun first by committing to his own queenside pawn roll.) 13. e4 (However, White’s decision to seize the centre puts Black’s strategy immediately into some doubt.)

13... b4 14. Na4 dxe4 15. fxe4 Qa5 16. Kb1 O-O 17. h4 (Here it comes. After due preparations to safeguard his king, White commences with his own initiative against the black king. Question is, whose attack will prevail first: White or Black?) 17…Rfe8 18. e5 Nd5 19. h5 g5 (Of course, Black does not wish to open up the h-file for White.) 20. h6 g6 21. Bc1 N7b6 22. Nc5 Bxc5 23. dxc5 b3 24. Qxb3 Qxc5 (Black seems to have an attack going as well but he will always have to keep the white pawn on h6 under observation. It can turn dangerous any time.) 25. Nd4 (Temporarily sacrificing a pawn in order to place his knight on a better square.) 25…Rxe5 26. Nf3 Re2 27. Nxg5 

(See diagram. Black looks active but I think it is only illusory. White is better. The h6 pawn will be the key to winning the game. Now, 27…Rxg2 is answered with 28.Nxf7) 27…Qe7 28. Qd3 Rf8 29. Rdf1 (This threatens 30…Rxf7 next.) 29... f5 30. g4 Na4 31. Qd4 Qe5 32. Qxe5 (White mustn’t be too greedy with 32.Qxa4 as the table will turn with 32…Nc3+) 32…Rxe5 33. gxf5 gxf5 34. Nf3 Re7 35.Rfg1+ Kh7 (If 35…Kh8, then 36.Nh4 will win material. Or White can also play 36.Rg7) 36. Rg7+ Kh8 37. Rhg1 Rfe8 38. Nh4 Rxg7 (And here, Black gives up. After 39.Rxg7, Black will have to meet the threat of 40.Ng6+ next.) 1-0

 

Up next

Perak grand prix

The Perak International Chess Association will organize the fifth leg of this year’s Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng chess grand prix tournament at the Syuen Hotel in Ipoh on July 10. 

As this tournament is also the final leg of the chess grand prix, the organizers have doubled the value of all the cash prizes. The winner of the open section, for instance, will receive RM600 instead of RM300. In addition, there will be prizes for the top eight players who accumulate the most points in the grand prix standings, with the grand prix champion set to receive RM800. 

Like the four previous legs, this one in Ipoh will be contested over seven rounds with a 25-minute time control. Entry fees: RM25 (open section), RM15 (players under 16 years old), RM10 (under 12 years old). For PICA members and Perak residents: RM20 (open section), RM10 (all players under 16 years old). Closing date for entries is July 7. To register, call Yunus (013.3908129) or visit http://perakchess.blogspot.com for details. 

Hillcrest open

The Sek Men Keb Hillcrest in Taman Seri Gombak, Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur will organize their first Hillcrest open tournament at the school premises on July 10. Six rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees: RM25 (players below 18 years old), RM30 (others). Closing date for entries is July 1. For more information, contact Wong Yen Lee (017.3577788, yenlee741011_u@hotmail.com), Farah Alwani (013.3336849) or Manivannan (018.3757339).

JB Rakan Muda open

The Johor Bahru Chess Association, Rukun Tetangga Taman Sri Tebrau and Rakan Muda Johor Bahru are jointly organizing the 22nd Rakan Muda Tebrau open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru on July 10. Seven round Swiss with 25-minute time control. Entry fees: RM30 (open section), RM16 (under-16 section) and RM12 (under-12 section). Closing date is July 6. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717 525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com). 

MBSSKL open

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School (MBSSKL) in Kuala Lumpur will hold the sixth MBSSKL open tounament at their school on July 23. Six rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees: RM5 (MBSSKL students) and RM15 (others). Closing date for entries is July 9. For more details, visit http://mbsskl.edu.my or contact Sanusi or Madam Yong LY (03.20782293).

 

Redeeming moment

For the most part of the past week, I’ve been trying to follow the Medias Kings tournament that was going on in Romania. The first time that I heard about this tournament, I thought that it would be an interesting event, seeing how the organizers had managed to invite some of the top players in the world to compete.

Leading the pack of six players in this double round-robin event was the Norwegian grandmaster, Magnus Carlsen who is currently the second highest rated player around. Then there was Russia’s Sergey Karyakin who was once the youngest grandmaster in the world and is still an immensely talented player.

Also in the field were Vasily Ivanchuk, the Ukrainian grandmaster who has climbed back to being number five in the world, top American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura who had won the strong Wijk aan Zee tournament earlier this year and the Azerbaijan grandmaster Teimour Radjabov who had recently competed in the Candidates elimination tournament.

Of course, this event being held in Romania meant that there would also be a place for a Romanian in the tournament and it fell to Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu to complete the sextet of players. Nisipeanu isn’t very well known but he is not unknown either. In 1999, he made it to the semi-finals of the FIDE world chess championship and six years ago, he had won the European individual chess championship.

But former successes counted for nothing in this Medias Kings tournament as Nisipeanu, the lowest rated player in the field of six players, found himself outclassed by most of his rivals. Most of his rivals, that is, except one. If not for Ivanchuk’s form, Nisipeanu could have found this tournament an embarrassment. Ivanchuk was so listless that I kept getting the impression that his mind was elsewhere and that he was in Romania only to fulfil an obligation to compete. 

However, the Ukrainian grandmaster was not the only disappointment of the tournament. Broadly, I found the excitement of the whole event rather below my expectations and uninspiring. Still, there were some redeeming moments, such as in this game below, which was played in the fifth round.

Vasily Ivanchuk – Sergey Karyakin

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.h3 (In case you are wondering what the players are up to, they are playing an ultra slow variation of the Guioco Piano. In my opinion, a not very inspiring choice except that soon, I was surprised by the exciting direction that the game was going to turn.) 7…Ne7 8.Re1 Ng6 (Even Black has the luxury to waste two moves in relocating his knight to a presumably better square on g6.) 

9.Nbd2 c6 10.Nf1 d5 (By allowing this centre pawn thrust, White indirectly admits that Black has already equalized.) 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Ng3 (White cannot win the e5-pawn by 12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.Rxe5 because of 13…Bxf2+ and the bishop cannot be captured due to the queen check on f6.) 12...h6 13.Bb3 Re8 14.Bd2 (I really don’t know. Until here, White’s game has really looked passive to me. Wouldn’t 14.d5 be a better choice?) 14…Bb6 15.Qc2 Be6 16.Rad1 (White continues to play mechanically but with this move, he totally cuts off his queen from the main play ground which is the kingside. But then, 16.Nxe5 is still not possible because of 16…Nxe5 17.Rxe5 Bxf2+, etc) 16...Bxh3! (See Diagram One)

(Black does not miss the opportunity. After this sacrifice, White is in deep trouble. Capturing the bishop loses, for example, 17.gxh3 Qf6 18.Kg2 Nh4+ 19.Nxh4 Qxf2+ 20.Kh1 Qxg3 and threatens checkmate next with …Qxh3.) 17. c4 Ndf4 18.c5 Nxg2 19.cxb6 Qf6 20.Nh2 Nxe1 21.Rxe1 axb6 (Only a miracle can save White now. Despite the recent pieces exchanges, Black hasn’t let up on his attack on the white king. The position is close to winning.) 

22.Bc3 Be6 23.Re3 Nf4 24.Rf3 Qh4 25.Bd2 Bg4 26.Qc4 Be6 (With this move, Black exchanges off the bishop and removes possible counter-threats against his f7-square.) 27.Qc2 Bxb3 28.Qxb3 Re6 29.a3 (White cannot afford to allow the black rook to capture the a2 pawn which would then expose his king to a back rank mating attack.) 29...Rae8 30.Qb4 (White tries to keep control of the e1 square but it is useless. Note that 30.Qxb6 loses to 30…Qh3 31.Bxf4 exf4 32.Rxf4 Re1+ 33.Nhf1 Rxf1+ 34.Nxf1 Re1) 30...Rf6 31.Qe4 Ree6 32.Ne2 (See Diagram Two)

(With his next move, Black signals his readiness to simplify into a winning endgame.) 32…Nxe2+ 33.Qxe2 Rxf3 34.Qxf3 Rg6+ 35.Kh1 Rf6 36.Qg3 Qxg3 37.fxg3 Rd6 (Faced with the prospect of losing a fourth pawn to Black, White decided to give up the game.) 0–1

Up next

Hillcrest open

The Sek Men Keb Hillcrest in Taman Seri Gombak, Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur will organize their first Hillcrest open tournament at the school premises on July 10. Six rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees: RM25 (players below 18 years old), RM30 (others). Closing date for entries is July 1. For more information, contact Wong Yen Lee (017.3577788, yenlee741011_u@hotmail.com), Farah Alwani (013.3336849) or Manivannan (018.3757339).

JB Rakan Muda open

The Johor Bahru Chess Association, Rukun Tetangga Taman Sri Tebrau and Rakan Muda Johor Bahru are jointly organizing the 22nd Rakan Muda Tebrau open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru on July 10. Seven round Swiss with 25-minute time control. Entry fees: RM30 (open section), RM16 (under-16 section) and RM12 (under-12 section). Closing date is July 6. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan (013.7717 525, jb_chess_association@yahoo.com). 

MBSSKL open

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School (MBSSKL) in Kuala Lumpur will hold the sixth MBSSKL open tounament at their school on July 23. Six rounds, 25 minutes per game. Entry fees: RM5 (MBSSKL students) and RM15 (others). Closing date for entries is July 9. For more details, visit http://mbsskl.edu.my or contact Sanusi or Madam Yong LY (03.20782293).

 

Shock pullout

If you are waiting for the next world chess championship match to be played between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen, you can forget about it.

It’s not going to happen any time soon, not after the gifted 19-year-old Norwegian (he’ll be celebrating his 20th birthday in 11 days’ time, on Nov 30) pulled out from the Candidates matches that are due to be played next March.

It was a decision that shocked the chess world. The Norwegian grandmaster is currently the highest rated player in the world. Certainly, a match between him and defending champion Anand would have captured the world’s imagination.

But in order to reach Anand for the title, Carlsen would have to go through the series of elimination Candidates mini-matches. First off would be the Candidates quarter-final match and if he was successful, then the Candidates semi-final match and then the Candidates final match itself. The winner earns a ticket at a tilt with Anand in 2012.

Last week, Carlsen informed the World Chess Federation (Fide) that he was withdrawing from the Candidates. He claimed that the current world championship cycle was unfair to him. Also, the rules were not sufficiently modern enough. As such, he would not be able to motivate himself to compete. 

What Carlsen wanted was an end to the Candidates matches. He preferred an eight to 10 player world championship tournament to decide who would be the world champion, like what was played in 2005 and 2007. He didn’t like the idea of a series of knock-out matches.

Well, maybe to a teenager, the matches are not exciting or appealing enough. But to the rest of the world – and when I say the “rest of the world”, I mean the top-ranked professional chess players – the return to the Candidates matches were what they demanded and received from Fide. 

Few of the professional chess players wanted the world championship title to be decided on tournament play. There are tournaments a-plenty to satisfy the professional players throughout the year but a true test of a worthy champion, they said, is the ability to go through a series of games in a match with his challenger. For example, if two players were to play for the very highest stakes, would they want to stake everything on only one game or on a series of games? 

Therein lies the other argument in Carlsen’s withdrawal: the world championship is not a fight on equal terms. While players have to slug it out in the Candidates quarter-finals, semi-finals and final matches, the champion only needs to sit pretty and wait for a challenger to emerge.

Why should one player have one out of two tickets to the final, which is to the detriment of all remaining players in the world, he asked. Curiously enough, he then made a very puzzling comparison. Imagine, he said, if the winner of the 2010 Football World Cup directly qualifies to the 2014 World Cup final while all the rest of the teams fight for the other spot.

To me, this comparison with the World Cup is simply not spot-on. World championship chess and the football World Cup are two different creatures. World championship chess is a contest between individuals whereas the World Cup is a team game. 

In any tournament for individuals, the players do not change once the event had started. In team events, the players in a team do change from game to game. Even if two football teams play each other in quick succession, in all practical likelihood, the make-up of the teams on the two occasions would be different. Thus, it makes little sense to make this sort of comparison.

Another of Carlsen’s argument was that five years was too to complete a world chess championship cycle. To me, this is certainly true. However, one must understand the turmoil that world chess had undergone in the last two decades.

Since the days of Wilhelm Steinitz (the year was 1886), there had been a long chain of undisputed world chess champions. This chain snapped in 1993 when Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short chose to play their world championship match outside Fide. From 14 years, there were two parallel championship cycles. 

Although unification of the two titles eventually happened in 2006 after a lot of intense negotiation, the stakeholders still had much to demand from Fide.  You can say that Fide had to tread a fine line to satisfy everyone involved and that needed time. But eventually, everything settled down and there is now again one accepted format and one undisputed world chess champion in Anand. It was a tough lesson learnt. Would anyone want to repeat the same mistake?

But of course, it is all up to Carlsen. If he chooses to withdraw from the Candidates matches, that is up to him. Nobody can force him to accept a system which he dislikes. So without him playing, there is no potential Anand versus Carlsen world chess championship match to look forward to.

Nevertheless, the situation is still okay by Fide. All this had been anticipated and one or two days later, the world body announced that Alexander Grischuk has replaced Carlsen in the Candidates.

The Candidates matches will be world class with or without the Norwegian grandmaster. Only difference is that it will have that little less glamour. In fact, come next year, I’ll be looking forward to Veselin Topalov versus Gata Kamsky, Vladimir Kramnik versus Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian versus Alexander Grischuk and Boris Gelfand versus Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. 

Up next  

November rating tournament

The Cheras Chess Academy will hold a Fide-rated open tournament, limited to players with Fide ratings of 1950 and below, at the Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Cochrane in Jalan Cochrane, Kuala Lumpur from tomorrow until Nov 24. Seven rounds, two-hour play-to-finish time control games. Entry fees are RM50 (Fide-rated players) and RM80 (non-Fide-rated players). More details from Collin Madhaven (016.2123578, geodat@yahoo.com).

Perak closed

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) together with the Majlis Sukan Negeri Perak and KLK Berhad will jointly organize the Perak closed chess championship at the Dewan MSN in Ipoh on Nov 27-28. Only players born, residing and working in the state are eligible to take part. Nine rounds, 45-minute time control games. Entry fees are RM15 (PICA members and players below the age of 16) and RM20 (others). Contact Yunus (013.3908129) to register.

Chess camp

A fun and informative Kids For Chess camp for beginners, intermediate-level and aspiring tournament players will be held at the Pandan Lake Club in Pandan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur on Dec 1-2. Entry fees are RM90 per participant. Closing date is Nov 30. More details available from http://www.kids4chess.com.

Penang Chess League

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organize the annual Penang Chess League at the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Kheng Thean in Jalan Van Praagh, George Town on Dec 4-5. Seven rounds, one-hour time control games. The event is open to teams from the public sector, business community, factories, institutions of learning and registered societies and clubs. Entry fees per team are RM150 (open category), RM90 (under-18 teams) and RM60 (under-12 teams). Entries close on Dec 1. More information from Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517)

Penang open

The Penang Chess Association (PCA) will organize the Penang Heritage City international open chess championship at the Penang City Hall in George Town, Penang on Dec 8-12. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM5,000 first prize. Nine rounds, full time control games. Entry fees for the open tournament are RM50 (Fide-rated player), RM150 (PCA member) and RM180 (others), while for the challengers section, they are RM30 (Fide-rated player), RM50 (PCA member) and RM80 (others). Contact Tan Eng Seong (012.4299517, estan64@streamyx.com) for more details.

Sarawak open

The Lanang Chess Association and Sarawak Chess Association will jointly organize the Universal Chinese Sports Sarawak open chess championship at the Premier Hotel in Jalan Kampung Nyabor, Sibu, Sarawak on Dec 17-19. This will be a FIDE-rated event with a RM2,500 first prize. Eight rounds, full time control. Entry fees are RM50 (adults) and RM25 (ladies and players below 18 years old). Contact Joseph Ting (016.8893185, fax: 084.331451) or Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, lkhwa@tm.net.my) for more details.

 

On top of the world

 

Carlsen in China

Well, a happy new year to you! By tradition at the start of every new year, the World Chess Federation (Fide) releases its January edition of the Fide rating list. It’s always the case that chess players worldwide – those who are internationally-rated, anyway – look forward to the release of the Fide list to see how their stand.

It is a numbers game and the higher one’s rating gets, the inference is that one has become a stronger player. It works conversely too. A decline in chess ratings means a decline in a player’s chess strength.

However, much interest also centres on the top echelons of chess players. Understandably, people are also very interested to know the rankings of those super-level grandmasters whose ratings are way above the ordinary folks. And any number above 2700 qualifies a player as super-level.

If you have been following the developments in world chess, it will probably not come as a surprise to know that today, there is a new, official Number One chess player in the world. 

Yes, Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov has been toppled from the Numero Uno spot. His successor? None other than that 18-year-old former Norwegian wunderkind that I had written about last October, Magnus Carlsen.

His new, official rating is 2810, a jump upwards by nine points from his last published rating in November last year. Within a spate of two months, he now stands entrenched at the top of the chess world.

Although this does not mean that he is world champion, surely that target cannot be too far away if Carlsen continues to improve. And he will improve with Garry Kasparov as his trainer.

Last September, the chess world was abuzz with news that the two of them would be working together to take the Norwegian’s chess level to a higher plane. Prior to that announcement, the former world champion had already been working informally with Carlsen for about six months.

I had the opportunity to ask Kasparov recently at Putrajaya how long he hoped to work together with Carlsen.

“I wish I have the luxury of making long term plans,” Kasparov replied. “We live in an ever-changing world. I cannot foresee the consequences of this cooperation. However, I hope that we will have at least one more year and I hope that I will help him to become not only Number One in the unofficial rating list but a solid Number One in the official rating list and eventually the world champion. And he will deserve to win the title if he continues to work hard and if he brings more hard work to his unique talent.”

What about his chess ideas, I asked Kasparov. In his decades at the top of world chess, he would have accumulated a wealth of information. How much would he be prepared to reveal to Carlsen?

“It doesn’t make any sense to hide my secrets,” he told me. “Undoubtedly, I have the largest database of opening ideas in chess and I keep working on updating this. Carlsen will always have full access to my library.”

So there you have it. The great man himself obviously sees a lot of himself in Carlsen. Will the Norwegian cement his position at the top of the world chess rankings? The next one year will see how the cooperation between the two of them bears out. 

How Carlsen rose to be Number One:

Soon after news broke of Carlsen training under Kasparov, the Norwegian grandmaster flew to Nanjing, China to participate in the Pearl Spring chess tournament in September together with Topalov, Wang Yue, Dmitry Jakovenko, Teimour Radjabov and Peter Leko.

His results in this double round-robin event made nearly everyone sit up to take notice of this young man. Carlsen scored an astounding eight points. By comparison, second-placed Topalov obtained only 5½ points. This tremendous result against his fellow super-level grandmaster opponents boosted Carlsen’s rating by 28.8 points.

In November, Carlsen was playing in the Mikhail Tal memorial tournament in Moscow. The field included notable chess heavyweights like Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich, Levon Aronian and world champion Viswanathan Anand. Though he did not win this event – he came second behind Kramnik – the result was still good enough to add a further 4.7 points to his rating and lift his standing to unofficial world Number One position.

Then in December at the London Chess Classic, he finished ahead of Kramnik and six other players to add a further 3.9  points to his rating.

I should also point out Carlsen has played 28 straight games at the top level without loss. His last defeat was at the hands of Kramnik at the Sparkassen tournament in Dortmund, Germany as long ago as July last year.

Here is an example of Carlsen’s recent form in a game from the Pearl Spring tournament in China:

Magnus Carlsen - Dmitry Jakovenko, Pearl Spring tournament, China

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bxd6 Qxd6 8.e3 Ne7 9.Bd3 b6 10.Nf3 Ba6 11.0-0 Bxd3 12.Qxd3 Nd7 13.e4 0-0 14.e5 Qe6 15.Rae1 Rfe8 16.Nh4 Ng6 17.Nxg6 Qxg6 18.Qd2 Nf8 19.f4 Qf5 20.Nd1 f6 21.Ne3 Qd7 22.Qd3 fxe5 23.dxe5 Ne6 24.f5 Nc5 25.Qd4 Ne4 26.Nxd5 Qxd5 27.Qxe4 Rad8 28.e6 Qxe4 29.Rxe4 Rd6 30.g4 Kf8 31.g5 Ke7 32.Kg2 Rd5 33.Kg3 Kd6 34.h4 c5 35.f6 gxf6 36.gxf6 Rd3+ 37.Kh2 Rd2+ 38.Kh1 1-0.

UP NEXT

First Saturday tournament

The Excel Chess Academy will organize their First Saturday chess tournament at their premises in Overseas Union Garden, Kuala Lumpur for two days starting tomorrow. Entry fee is RM35. For details, contact Jax Tham (013.3232280, jaxtham@hotmail.com) 

Beating the giants

 

Teen spirit

 

The player to watch